Japan to continue opposing global ban on trade for bluefin tuna: Hirano+

TOKYO, March 11 Kyodo -
Japan, the biggest consumer of Atlantic bluefin tuna, will continue to oppose a
ban on international trade of the fish, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano
said Thursday, following the European Union's decision to support the ban.
Japan's top government spokesman made the comments after the 27 EU nations
agreed to support the ban, which is proposed by Monaco, at the upcoming meeting
of signatory states of the so-called Washington Convention, set to start in
Doha, Qatar on Saturday.
''The Washington Convention is basically to protect endangered species, but I
personally doubt that bluefin tuna is currently facing such a situation,''
Hirano said at a regular press conference.
''Japan will continue to think the same way and put forward the same reasoning
as it has,'' he said.
The meeting on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of
Wild Fauna and Flora will be held from Saturday through March 25.
If the meeting endorses the ban, Japan, which consumes about 80 percent of
Atlantic bluefin sold worldwide, has indicated it will lodge a reservation and
not comply with the decision.
==Kyodo